Friday, June 26, 2009

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2009 -- Afghan and coalition forces detained several suspected Taliban militants overnight during an operation designed to disrupt Taliban bombing and rocket attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

In the province’s Nad Ali district, a combined force patrolled near the village of Marjeh, to compounds where intelligence sources reported a known Taliban commander was located.

While clearing the compounds, the force encountered a threat. Officials did not provide details of the threat, but said it was “eliminated” after several escalation-of-force measures.

The force completed the search without further incident, detained a handful of suspected militants, uncovered about 350 pounds of black-tar heroin and confiscated an AK-47 rifle. The heroin was destroyed.

No Afghan or coalition forces or noncombatants were injured in the operation, officials said.

In other news from Afghanistan, Afghan National Police and coalition forces found and eliminated six insurgent bombs near a village school in the Khayr Kot district of Paktika province June 24.

A coalition forces route-clearance patrol and explosive ordnance disposal team conducted a controlled detonation to eliminate the threat.

This was the fifth incident in the last week involving insurgent bombs being placed near schools and educational facilities in eastern Afghanistan, officials said.

National police and coalition forces recently responded to and eliminated the threat from a bomb found near a teachers center and public hospital in the Behsood district of Nangarhar province, and insurgent bombs caused extensive damage to educational facilities in three other locations in the region, officials said.